The introduction locates the book’s argument at the productive intersection of queer studies, film theory, and Deleuzian philosophy, clarifying where each field stood in the U.S. academy by the ...
More

The introduction locates the book’s argument at the productive intersection of queer studies, film theory, and Deleuzian philosophy, clarifying where each field stood in the U.S. academy by the 1990s. From there, the introduction reviews seven theoretical tenets from which all of the book’s arguments derive, explaining such key Deleuzian concepts as desiring-production, deterritorialization, and minor cinema along the way and deriving concrete illustrations from different films than those treated in later chapters. Following some words about the origins, historical context, and disciplinary orientations of the book’s argument, the introduction ends with an overview of each subsequent chapter.Less

Introduction: The Desiring-Image : Gilles Deleuze and Queer Cinema

Nick Davis

Published in print: 2013-07-01

The introduction locates the book’s argument at the productive intersection of queer studies, film theory, and Deleuzian philosophy, clarifying where each field stood in the U.S. academy by the 1990s. From there, the introduction reviews seven theoretical tenets from which all of the book’s arguments derive, explaining such key Deleuzian concepts as desiring-production, deterritorialization, and minor cinema along the way and deriving concrete illustrations from different films than those treated in later chapters. Following some words about the origins, historical context, and disciplinary orientations of the book’s argument, the introduction ends with an overview of each subsequent chapter.

Todd Haynes’s Velvet Goldmine (1998) triply encapsulates the productive potentials of a Deleuzian queer cinema. First, in combining elements of Deleuze’s prewar movement-image and postwar time-image, Goldmine integrates the historical and political sensibilities behind those concepts: a belief in the possibility of global progress plus a pervasive disenchantment with that prospect. Second, Goldmine conveys this tension as both a universal quandary and a site of particular investment for queer people, whose apocalyptic confrontation with AIDS lends specific, unspoken resonance to the film’s temporal fissures and dolorous affect. Third, via the prism of glam rock, Goldmine subjects performative tropes so privileged in queer theory and cinema of the 1990s to dialectical critique, seeking different orientations, alliances, and stylistic modes that might help “change the world.” Ultimately, Velvet Goldmine’s survey of historical wreckage, simultaneously Deleuzian and Benjaminian, yields visions of the past and future that glimmer with fragile, coalitional possibility.Less

Theses on a Philosophy of Queer History : Velvet Goldmine

Nick Davis

Published in print: 2013-07-01

Todd Haynes’s Velvet Goldmine (1998) triply encapsulates the productive potentials of a Deleuzian queer cinema. First, in combining elements of Deleuze’s prewar movement-image and postwar time-image, Goldmine integrates the historical and political sensibilities behind those concepts: a belief in the possibility of global progress plus a pervasive disenchantment with that prospect. Second, Goldmine conveys this tension as both a universal quandary and a site of particular investment for queer people, whose apocalyptic confrontation with AIDS lends specific, unspoken resonance to the film’s temporal fissures and dolorous affect. Third, via the prism of glam rock, Goldmine subjects performative tropes so privileged in queer theory and cinema of the 1990s to dialectical critique, seeking different orientations, alliances, and stylistic modes that might help “change the world.” Ultimately, Velvet Goldmine’s survey of historical wreckage, simultaneously Deleuzian and Benjaminian, yields visions of the past and future that glimmer with fragile, coalitional possibility.

This book argues for a new, Deleuzian model of queer cinema as it emerged in the wake of AIDS. This model moves away from identity-based or politically fixed definitions of queerness, arguing instead ...
More

This book argues for a new, Deleuzian model of queer cinema as it emerged in the wake of AIDS. This model moves away from identity-based or politically fixed definitions of queerness, arguing instead for desire itself as an expansive, mutable, and abundantly generative force, on par with Deleuze’s theorizations of cinematic movement and time. This premise allows us to designate as “queer” a wide range of films that formally and thematically convey both the centrality and unpredictability of desire within individual and collective experiences, and with various political implications. Overt investments in LGBT representation recede somewhat as primary criteria in classifying a film as queer, as do the avowed sexualities of the filmmakers. Furthermore, these arguments allow us to read questions of desire into Deleuze’s strangely de-eroticized volumes on cinema; to posit desire as a bridge across some conceptual gulfs between Deleuze’s movement-image and time-image, especially as they relate to history, aesthetics, and politics; and to consider queer cinema as a “minor cinema,” echoing Deleuze and Guattari’s notion of minor art. The Desiring-Image thus furnishes novel contributions to Deleuzian theory and new rejoinders to the most familiar rubrics for studying queer cinema. The book hones these claims via sustained readings of key films by leaders of the New Queer Cinema (Todd Haynes, Cheryl Dunye), by famed auteurs excluded from or loosely annexed to that movement (David Cronenberg, Claire Denis), and by emergent 21st-century talents (Rodney Evans, John Cameron Mitchell), while simultaneously unpacking Deleuze’s tough, idiosyncratic lexicon of cinematic terms.Less

The Desiring-Image : Gilles Deleuze and Contemporary Queer Cinema

Nick Davis

Published in print: 2013-07-01

This book argues for a new, Deleuzian model of queer cinema as it emerged in the wake of AIDS. This model moves away from identity-based or politically fixed definitions of queerness, arguing instead for desire itself as an expansive, mutable, and abundantly generative force, on par with Deleuze’s theorizations of cinematic movement and time. This premise allows us to designate as “queer” a wide range of films that formally and thematically convey both the centrality and unpredictability of desire within individual and collective experiences, and with various political implications. Overt investments in LGBT representation recede somewhat as primary criteria in classifying a film as queer, as do the avowed sexualities of the filmmakers. Furthermore, these arguments allow us to read questions of desire into Deleuze’s strangely de-eroticized volumes on cinema; to posit desire as a bridge across some conceptual gulfs between Deleuze’s movement-image and time-image, especially as they relate to history, aesthetics, and politics; and to consider queer cinema as a “minor cinema,” echoing Deleuze and Guattari’s notion of minor art. The Desiring-Image thus furnishes novel contributions to Deleuzian theory and new rejoinders to the most familiar rubrics for studying queer cinema. The book hones these claims via sustained readings of key films by leaders of the New Queer Cinema (Todd Haynes, Cheryl Dunye), by famed auteurs excluded from or loosely annexed to that movement (David Cronenberg, Claire Denis), and by emergent 21st-century talents (Rodney Evans, John Cameron Mitchell), while simultaneously unpacking Deleuze’s tough, idiosyncratic lexicon of cinematic terms.

This chapter considers the hetero media gaze in relation to queer subjectivity and narcissism, exploring the prototypical filmic representation of queer desire in early Hollywood cinema, and the ...
More

This chapter considers the hetero media gaze in relation to queer subjectivity and narcissism, exploring the prototypical filmic representation of queer desire in early Hollywood cinema, and the later impact of New Queer Cinema. Considering the case studies Rope (Alfred Hitchcock 1948, US) and Suddenly Last Summer (Joseph L. Mankiewicz 1959, US), as prototypes of queer desire and the formation of the queer gaze, and Swoon (Tom Kalin 1992, US) as a contemporary queer text, issues of adaptation and historical biography are centrally framed. Later the significance of the queer auteur is explored, evident in Caravaggio (Derek Jarman 1986, UK), Edward II (Derek Jarman 1991), The Living End (Gregg Araki 1992, US) and Mysterious Skin (Gregg Araki 2005, US) considering the aesthetics of the painterly and historical image, in developing the notion of the queer gaze.Less

Queer Gazes and Identifications

Christopher Pullen

Published in print: 2016-02-01

This chapter considers the hetero media gaze in relation to queer subjectivity and narcissism, exploring the prototypical filmic representation of queer desire in early Hollywood cinema, and the later impact of New Queer Cinema. Considering the case studies Rope (Alfred Hitchcock 1948, US) and Suddenly Last Summer (Joseph L. Mankiewicz 1959, US), as prototypes of queer desire and the formation of the queer gaze, and Swoon (Tom Kalin 1992, US) as a contemporary queer text, issues of adaptation and historical biography are centrally framed. Later the significance of the queer auteur is explored, evident in Caravaggio (Derek Jarman 1986, UK), Edward II (Derek Jarman 1991), The Living End (Gregg Araki 1992, US) and Mysterious Skin (Gregg Araki 2005, US) considering the aesthetics of the painterly and historical image, in developing the notion of the queer gaze.

This chapter positions Haynes’ work in the school of New Queer Cinema. It examines themes such as coming out and the central motifs of deviance and death. Its emphases include the influence of Jean ...
More

This chapter positions Haynes’ work in the school of New Queer Cinema. It examines themes such as coming out and the central motifs of deviance and death. Its emphases include the influence of Jean Genet, the role of transgression, and Haynes’ collaborations, including Christine Vachon, Julianne Moore, and Cate Blanchett.Less

Todd Haynes : Deconstructive Queer Cinema

Published in print: 2015-08-25

This chapter positions Haynes’ work in the school of New Queer Cinema. It examines themes such as coming out and the central motifs of deviance and death. Its emphases include the influence of Jean Genet, the role of transgression, and Haynes’ collaborations, including Christine Vachon, Julianne Moore, and Cate Blanchett.

Moving images of the British monarchy, in fact and fiction, are almost as old as the moving image itself, dating back to an 1895 dramatic vignette, The Execution of Mary Queen of Scots. Led by Queen ...
More

Moving images of the British monarchy, in fact and fiction, are almost as old as the moving image itself, dating back to an 1895 dramatic vignette, The Execution of Mary Queen of Scots. Led by Queen Victoria, British monarchs themselves appeared in the new “animated photography” from 1896. Half a century later, the 1953 coronation of Elizabeth II was a milestone in the adoption of television, watched by 20 million Britons and 100 million North Americans. At the century’s end, Princess Diana’s funeral was viewed by 2.5 billion worldwide. Seventeen essays by international commentators examine the portrayal of royalty in the “actuality” picture, the early extended feature, amateur cinema, the movie melodrama, the Commonwealth documentary, New Queer Cinema, TV current affairs, the big screen ceremonial and the post-historical boxed set. These contributors include Ian Christie, Elisabeth Bronfen, Andrew Higson, Steven Fielding, Karen Lury, Glyn Davis, Ann Gray, Jane Landman, Victoria Duckett, Jude Cowan Montague, James Downs, Barbara Straumann, Deirdre Gilfedder, Jo Stephenson, Ruth Adams, Erin Bell, Basil Glynn and Nicola Rehling.Less

The British monarchy on screen

Published in print: 2016-03-01

Moving images of the British monarchy, in fact and fiction, are almost as old as the moving image itself, dating back to an 1895 dramatic vignette, The Execution of Mary Queen of Scots. Led by Queen Victoria, British monarchs themselves appeared in the new “animated photography” from 1896. Half a century later, the 1953 coronation of Elizabeth II was a milestone in the adoption of television, watched by 20 million Britons and 100 million North Americans. At the century’s end, Princess Diana’s funeral was viewed by 2.5 billion worldwide. Seventeen essays by international commentators examine the portrayal of royalty in the “actuality” picture, the early extended feature, amateur cinema, the movie melodrama, the Commonwealth documentary, New Queer Cinema, TV current affairs, the big screen ceremonial and the post-historical boxed set. These contributors include Ian Christie, Elisabeth Bronfen, Andrew Higson, Steven Fielding, Karen Lury, Glyn Davis, Ann Gray, Jane Landman, Victoria Duckett, Jude Cowan Montague, James Downs, Barbara Straumann, Deirdre Gilfedder, Jo Stephenson, Ruth Adams, Erin Bell, Basil Glynn and Nicola Rehling.

This chapter claims that Lisa Cholodenko’s work exemplifies the sort of ‘in-betweenness’ that resists and challenges established categories. Identified with the lesbian branch of the New Queer Cinema ...
More

This chapter claims that Lisa Cholodenko’s work exemplifies the sort of ‘in-betweenness’ that resists and challenges established categories. Identified with the lesbian branch of the New Queer Cinema of the early 1990s, evoking both praise and divisive reactions, Cholodenko’s High Art (1998), about the professional and sexual relationship between a young straight female art critic and journalist and a brilliant lesbian artist/heroin addict, was controversial at a time when lesbian indies were usually lo-fi romances. Likewise, her more mainstream lesbian family drama The Kids Are All Right (2010) has been accused of compromise with heteronormative patriarchal values. San Filippo argues that rather than ‘betraying’ lesbian cinema, her characters and films traverse boundaries and resist sexual, ideological and industrial categories.Less

Sexual In-betweener/Industry In-betweener: The Career and Films of Lisa Cholodenko

Maria San Filippo

Published in print: 2016-11-01

This chapter claims that Lisa Cholodenko’s work exemplifies the sort of ‘in-betweenness’ that resists and challenges established categories. Identified with the lesbian branch of the New Queer Cinema of the early 1990s, evoking both praise and divisive reactions, Cholodenko’s High Art (1998), about the professional and sexual relationship between a young straight female art critic and journalist and a brilliant lesbian artist/heroin addict, was controversial at a time when lesbian indies were usually lo-fi romances. Likewise, her more mainstream lesbian family drama The Kids Are All Right (2010) has been accused of compromise with heteronormative patriarchal values. San Filippo argues that rather than ‘betraying’ lesbian cinema, her characters and films traverse boundaries and resist sexual, ideological and industrial categories.

This chapter presents an interview with Tom Kalin, a New York-based filmmaker, writer, producer, and activist, best known as a prominent figure in the New Queer Cinema. His feature films include ...
More

This chapter presents an interview with Tom Kalin, a New York-based filmmaker, writer, producer, and activist, best known as a prominent figure in the New Queer Cinema. His feature films include Swoon (1992) and Savage Grace (2007). He has also created short films and video works screened in numerous international film festivals and included in the permanent collections of Centre George Pompidou, Paris and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. The interview covered topics such as how Savage Grace by Natalie Robins and Steven M. L. Aronson came to Kalin's attention and the particular elements that attracted him to it; whether he is drawn to flawed characters and to central relationships based on a combustible dynamic; and his collaboration with writer Howard Rodman.Less

Tom Kalin

Jason Wood

Published in print: 2014-09-23

This chapter presents an interview with Tom Kalin, a New York-based filmmaker, writer, producer, and activist, best known as a prominent figure in the New Queer Cinema. His feature films include Swoon (1992) and Savage Grace (2007). He has also created short films and video works screened in numerous international film festivals and included in the permanent collections of Centre George Pompidou, Paris and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. The interview covered topics such as how Savage Grace by Natalie Robins and Steven M. L. Aronson came to Kalin's attention and the particular elements that attracted him to it; whether he is drawn to flawed characters and to central relationships based on a combustible dynamic; and his collaboration with writer Howard Rodman.